Search intent, or SEO driven by emotions and needs
What content should you publish to achieve good SEO results in 2020? What are micro-moments, and is it possible to respond to the intentions of organic users in SEO?
At the heart of marketing lies satisfying people's needs. The more accurately you do it, the greater your sales growth will be. It's no surprise, then, that Google has also significantly improved its search engine, trying to match results not only to phrases but above all to user intent! This forces changes in SEO activities. Algorithms such as RankBrain and Bert – using machine learning technology – try to guess what people have in mind – and they are getting better and better at it. Ignore user needs, and they may abandon you entirely or overlook you!
Customers don't always state their needs directly
According to the dictionary definition, intention is: "a conscious mental process involving an active attitude of the mind toward a problem (situation), as a result of which desires are transformed into a potential plan of action." In practice, this means conscious action aimed at achieving an intended goal.
Correctly identifying intentions in people fosters effective communication and relationship building. It's similar in the world of marketing. Effective advertising communication is one in which the right content reaches the right person at the right moment. Marketers have long tried to learn the true needs of their consumers and adapt their products and services to their preferences. After all, at the heart of marketing lies satisfying people's needs.
However, there are situations in which a consumer does not directly communicate what they expect or doesn't even know what could be the answer to their need. In such a situation, effective marketing communication must focus not on the product but on its features that solve specific problems or needs of potential users.
How to read intentions from search engines
For specialists dealing with website optimization for search engines (SEO), the main challenge is that search engine users often simplify their questions into the form of phrases from which it is often difficult to read the intended outcome of the action (intention). When talking about intentions in SEO, we mean search intent, that is, search intentions.
New technological capabilities of the Google search engine force website owners to change their previous approach to determining keywords that can be a source of valuable traffic. Above all, however, they require rethinking the strategy for the type of content published on the site and the structure of the website.
Matching landing pages to intent
Understanding and adapting to intent will provide us with high-quality traffic with a high chance of conversions.
The right landing page increases the chances of a high CTR for an organic result. Moreover, meeting the user's expectations gives us the opportunity to persuade them to perform another action. Keeping them on the page for a longer time can be a signal to Google that our brand effectively responds to the expectations of an organic user, thanks to which our content should rank higher.
Page type vs. matching to intent
SEO specialists have recently observed a growing importance of the type of landing page in relation to specific user queries. Google tries to guess the user's intent and filters search results to page types consistent with the identified intent of a given search. In e-commerce, this is very clearly visible in the example of queries about product groups (e.g., women's handbags); even the best-optimized product page with a large number of trusted backlinks has no chance of a high position for this type of query, because Google identifies the search intent of these phrases as a product listing.
If our category level is neglected, our website has very little chance of good visibility for this group of queries (often these are the most popular and profitable phrases in the industry). An attempt to obtain a high position for the phrase "women's handbags" even with the best article on the internet will not bring the intended result. Of course, the article will still have a chance to appear for other phrases and support the domain's authority. However, realistic goals for this type of landing page should be consciously defined.
What content will ensure good SEO results in 2020?
The key to success is creating content of various kinds, responding to different needs in order to reach a potential customer with our offer, regardless of how Google classifies their search intent.
Here are eight types of effective content
- Answer questions
- Give the user knowledge to specify their need
- Advise on the purchase of specific products
- Use the potential of Google My Business
- Create offer listings
- Optimize product and offer pages
- Act actively off-site
- Don't forget about search results with rich snippets
If you want to learn more and get advice on each of the above points, read
the extended article by Piotr Matusiak, SEO Team Leader at Bluerank, on the blog: Search intent, or SEO driven by emotions and needs - Bluerank Blog
Summary
Effective SEO in 2020 requires understanding that Google, thanks to algorithms such as RankBrain and Bert, matches results to user intent, not just to phrases. That's why it's crucial to publish diverse content that responds to different needs along the purchase path – from expert articles, through product listings, to optimizing category and offer pages.
The article points to eight types of content that can ensure good visibility. Importantly, matching the landing page type to intent (e.g., a product category instead of a single product) is becoming more important than the number of backlinks alone. It's a signal to Google that the website effectively responds to user expectations, which translates into higher rankings.
